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MotoCAP open day
A look behind the scenes at the
riding gear testing centre
The
MotoCAP motorcycle safety gear testing site
at Deakin University in Geelong today held an open
house in partnership with the launch for Motorcycle
Awareness Month in Victoria, Australia. Its
modest facility evaluates a range of clothing and is
notable for developing a lot of expertise in assessing
jackets, pants and gloves. Here is our quick overview.
(Guy 'Guido' Allen, October 5, 2024; top pic by
MotoCAP)
Behind the public website is a crew which buys
duplicate motorcycle gear from retailers, both from
brick-and-mortar shops and online. The idea is to
ensure the samples are random.
From there it's assessed for 'live-ability' with the
assistance of experienced riders. Those issues include
does it bend and conform when you sit on the bike, are
fasteners accessible, does it generally do what you
might expect on first meeting.
And here's a little detail: does it have metal parts
(rivets/fasteners) that are on the outer shell and go
through to touch your skin? If so, that's seen as a
potential heat-transfer point that could burn you
through friction.
The clothing is also literally dissected so the
material and construction can be tested.
Among those tests...
Trialling the strength of seams and even the material
itself with a device to measure what pressure is
required to make it fail.
Above
we have a section of liner where the seams have been
tested, and a patch of denim where the material itself
has been stress-tested.
Next is what we like to call the 'belt and road' test.
It's literally an abrasion test with what looks like a
giant belt-sander that can be set to mimic road
conditions, and very precisely measure performance. Just
as a matter of interest, double-layered kevlar performed
relatively well in the demo we witnessed.
Armour
was a popular topic and the quality can vary enormously.
The researchers were too polite to say the word
'rubbish', but that clearly applied in one case that was
carrying fake CE standard markings.
One of the tools for armour evaluation is this, which drops a weight on the material and measure how much force is absorbed. The differences between dodgy and Level 2 absorption is enormous.
Something
we weren't expecting was this, a device that can be used
to measure breath-ability (temperature transfer) and the
effectiveness of claims to wick away moisture.
One section that wasn't open on the day was the rain room, though we were given a video demo. It's essentially a converted container that can set up a mist or light dousing to test any 'shower-proof ' claims. Fortunately it can be used with a test dummy rather than a real person in the riding gear!
MotoCAP is also working on a project to assess the longevity of riding clothing, or at least how quickly its protective qualities deteriorate. That report is yet to be completed, but is worth keeping an eye out for.
So are manufacturers taking any notice
of this work? The belief is the local brands are and there
is a sense they are modifying their range accordingly. One
model that springs to mind is a DriRider Climate EXO 4
jacket, which in its latest iteration has scored a
five-star safety rating.
There is a lot going on behind the scenes with this project and it's well worth spending a bit of time on the website.
We reckon you just have to take it into
account before you buy any riding gear.
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